Azad Championship Report: Donaire Knocks Out Jorge Arce

A crowd of just over seven thousand fans at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston, Texas was more than loud enough to create a great night at the fights. Nonito Donaire (31(20)-1) retained his WBO World Super Bantamweight with an impressive third round knockout over Jorge Arce. Contrary to popular trends in boxing, each man was in the ring for the fourth time in 2012. Jorge "El Travieso" Arce’s (61(46)-7-2-1) entrance to the ring, as the case has been recently was considerably more tame than the wild and creative ring walks he had made in the past. Gone are the horse and lollipop. Nevertheless, the former multiple division world champion received a raucous ovation from the largely pro-Mexico fans in attendance. Donaire was somewhat booed, but an overall sense of respect was in the air.

Donaire went right to work in the opening round. He utilized a busy left jab and followed it up at times with strong rights. Arce was active as well, although he seemed to have a slight disadvantage when he tried to locate his opponent in the ring. Donaire possessed a slight uper hand in both reach and height. The first knockdown of the fight came less than a minute into round two. The two fighters collided near the center of the ring, after which Donaire landed a short right to the head his Los Mochis, Mexico opponent. Jorge Arce quickly rose to his feet and motioned with his gloves that his trip to the canvas was but a mistake on his part. Upon continuation of the bout, Nonito continued to tag Arce with short lefts.

Azad Championship Report

Donaire and Arce briefly tangled up near the corner and slipped to the ring mat in unison shortly after the third commenced. Towards the end of the period, Jorge swung and missed with a left of his own, after which "The Filipino Flash" Donaire connected with a hard overhand right to the temple. Against the ropes and once again to the canvas went Arce. As before, he beat the count and rose to his feet. What may have proven to have quickened his undoing at 2:59 of round three was his ever constant taunting of his foe. Donaire attempted to land combinations of the 1-2 variety, to which Arce would wave his gloves and beckon his opponent to "bring it". This is exactly what Nonito Donaire did this evening. With just seconds left in what would ultimately be the final period of the evening, Donaire landed a crushing left hook to the head of Arce.

This time, there would be no chance to get back up. The fan favorite from Sinaloa was clearly beaten and exhausted. Referee Laurence Cole waved the bout to a close with just one second to spare. Donaire successfully defends his WBO title by 3rd round TKO over Jorge Arce.

Final punch states revealed that Arce held a slender edge overall in total punches thrown (96-93), while Donaire connected on 20 of his 50 power shots compared to 11 for 49 for Jorge.